


The art of parenting

by thisisamadhouse



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of bullying and violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 14:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15643065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: There were days  where Robin felt like it was all too much, and today was definitely one of those. For the OQ August Angst Fest





	The art of parenting

**Author's Note:**

> Topic: Fighting over family. Prompt #38 Are we good parents? #39 Where the hell were you? #12 We can’t keep this up forever

There were days where Robin needed a break. It wasn’t that he was unhappy, he had everything one could possibly ask for: a wife and children he loved more than life itself, dear friends he could count on, the respect of a tight-knit community, but what made his existence so full and rewarding was also what made it so difficult some days to catch his breath. 

 

Dealing with two preteens presented challenges he had never suspected, co-parenting with Zelena and her volatile temper was a headache of its own, answering the requests of demanding citizens always with a smile and a sympathetic nod could take its toll. Robin had known a rough life where having food on the table every day was considered a luxury, and sometimes the futility of some of Storybrooke’s inhabitants got on his last nerve. Didn’t they know how lucky they were?

 

On occasion, after hanging up with the latest concerned citizen, he would need to step outside for a moment, inhaling and exhaling fresh air to clear his mind, on others, he would have to leave the office, go to the forest, run until his lungs burned or target practice until his arms cramped. Even years later he was still haunted by the memories of his stay in the Netherworld; though it had been days here, for him it had seemed like centuries, and reconnecting to a normal life after such an experience was strenuous. Regina had been there for him, supportive, understanding, loving, soothing his nightmares, drying his tears, but there were only so much that he could share, so much that he could burden her with, she had known hell on Earth, she had been through enough without him adding to it. 

 

So he buried the memories deep in the recesses of his mind, and escaped when necessary. It worked, most of the time, but not that night.

 

That night, he had been gone far longer than usual, had lost track of time, and when he finally got home, he was greeted by the sight of his family on the couch, Roland pressing an ice pack against his face, Robyn in tears beside him, sitting in Regina’s lap, clutching to her, both children wrapped in their favourite blankets, mugs full of hot cocoa on the table in front of them, his wife holding the phone to her ear. 

 

“What happened?” He asked and they turned towards him as one, Regina throwing the phone away as she disantangled herself from Robyn and marched towards him quickly, telling the kids to stay put and grabbing his arm to lead him to the kitchen.

 

“Where the hell were you? I have been calling you for hours,” she whispered harshly, brows furrowed, eyes glinting dangerously. He knew this expression well: the lioness unleashed to protect her hurt cubs.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was so late,” he replied, pulling his phone out of his pocket and found that it had run out of battery. He sighed, closing his eyes, a heavy weight settling in his guts at his failure to be present for his family.

 

“Where were you, Robin? Emma said you left early, she didn’t know where you went,” Regina inquired, her tone softening at his palpable distress, a gentle hand squeezing his elbow.

 

“I was in the woods, I just needed a minute. I should have checked if my phone was still charged, I apologize,” he said. “What happened?” He asked again.

 

Regina studied him for a moment, and he could see her struggle not to demand more explanations from him. She exhaled forcefully, letting go for now, but he knew this conversation was far from over.

 

“Well, neither of them are talking, but when Snow called she told me that Roland fought with some kids at school, he sent three of them to the infirmary. She thinks they may have been picking on Robyn and Roland intervened, though she can’t be sure, she wasn’t there.”

 

Robin was conflicted between his worry, anger, and a touch of pride at Roland “And no one saw anything?”

 

Regina rolled her eyes. “Someone probably did, but no one said anything. I guess we’ll have to pry it out of our stubborn children.” He could hear in her voice that she had already tried, and it didn’t have the desired result.

 

She stepped away from him, intending to go back to the living room, but he stopped her by grabbing her hand, lacing their fingers together. “I should have been there, you shouldn’t have had to deal with this on your own.”

 

She bit on her bottom lip, looking away for a second. “You’re here now, that’s what matters.”

 

And yet, she couldn’t hide the hurt in her usually warm, dark eyes.

 

The moment he sat down on the couch between Roland and Robyn, his daughter threw her arms around his neck and hid her face against his neck, sobbing anew. Regina settled on Roland’s other side, taking the ice pack off to check on the damages, and Robin was able to see the impressive bruise on his left cheekbone, his split lip and it made him cringe. It was the first time he saw his boy hurt like that, he thought as he stroked Robyn’s hair to calm her down, he hoped it wouldn’t ever happen again.

 

“Please, don’t be mad at Roland, Papa,” Robyn whimpered in his ear. “He was just defending me.”

 

“Why don’t you tell me what happened, Peanut? Then I will know if there is a reason to be mad at your brother,” he asked in a whisper.

 

“It’s those idiot boys, they kept calling me names, and I was ignoring them, like you taught me. I was good, Papa, I swear,” she insisted, straightening up to look her father in the eyes, her hands coming to rest on his cheeks.

 

“I’m sure you were, sweetheart,” Robin reassured her, wiping her tears away with his thumb.

 

“They got mad when I didn’t say anything and they started grabbing my bag and my hair and I told them to stop, but they didn’t, and my friends tried to help, but they pushed them, and then Roland appeared and got between us,” she said it all in quick succession, and was panting at the end.

 

“Don’t forget to breathe, honey,” Robin told her, hugging her tightly.

 

“Roland,” Regina gently prompted the boy, looking down at him, as he rested against her. “Do you know who those boys are, and why they went after your sister?”

 

The boy frowned and huffed, crossing his arms over his chest petulantly. “Some of those stupid Lost Boys,” he said, rolling his eyes in such a perfect imitation of Regina that Robin had to suppress a smile. “Real jackasses who think they are better than everyone else because they used to live on an island with Peter Pan. They’re just jealous of those of us who have families.”

 

Regina and Robin exchanged a look. “Well, that was certainly an heartfelt statement,” Regina said, a tad surprised at the vehemence coming from the usually chipper boy.

 

“I’m not sorry, and I won’t apologize to them. They’ve been doing stuff like that all year, but this time they went too far. No one hurts my family,” Roland affirmed, ruffling Robyn’s hair playfully as the girl turned her head towards her brother from her place against her father’s chest, and she gave him a faint smile in return.

 

Both Robin and Regina had to look away, swallowing the lumps forming in their throats. 

 

“I think we would understand better if you told us what exactly those boys said that provoked you like that. It’s not like you to use violence, I wasn’t even aware that you know how to fight,” Regina recovered first, and continued to question their boy.

 

“Will taught me,” Roland answered. “Henry and David too. They said that you never know when it can come in handy in this town.

 

“Apparently they weren’t wrong, but maybe you all could have told us about it,” Robin said, and Roland grimaced.

 

“Yeah, we weren’t sure you would like it, so we decided not to upset you, but I guess this will,” he looked down for a moment and took a deep breath. “Cover your ears, kiddo,” he told his sister, not wanting to upset her again, and she immediately did, Robin adding his hands over hers for good measure. “At first, it was just the usual stuff, that she is the Wicked Witch’s spawn, and “Do you have warts yet?”, and asking her friends if they weren’t afraid that she would turn them into monkeys, but when they all ignored them, they said that she was just an unwanted child anyway, and everyone would have been a lot happier if she had never been born. They told her that she can pretend that Regina is her mom all she wants, but everyone knows who she really is and what she will become,” a single tear fell along the boy’s bruised cheek as he concluded, and the silence that followed was heavy.

 

Both parents had become progressively paler as Roland talked, horrified and furious at the cruelty their daughter had been exposed to.

 

“Thank you, Roland, for telling us,” Robin said at last. “I may not think that violence is the right way to solve anything, but I can’t blame you for reacting like this after hearing your sister being treated this way. We will have serious words with those boys and the teachers who are supposed to watch over you. Where were they, by the way?”

 

Roland shrugged. “I don’t know, I looked for them, but I couldn’t find them. I’m not sure it would have changed anything though, cause they’re always telling us to be nice to them because they are orphans and they have no one, and all that. Maybe we would be nicer if those guys at least tried to make friends, which they don’t.”

 

“Well, I think we definitely need to clarify all of this with your teachers, but it will have to wait until the morning. It’s been too much emotion for one evening,” Regina stated, standing and bringing up Roland with her. “Bedtime, everyone.”

 

“Can we take our cocoa upstairs?” Robyn pleaded, jutting out her bottom lip.

 

“Of course, sweetheart, let me warm it up for you,” Regina replied, taking both mugs in her hands, heating them up with her magic. “Come on now.”

 

Robin and Regina took turns settling the children for the night, and as Regina tucked Roland into bed, cupping his injured cheek and sending some healing energy to ease his pain -she would leave the bruise there until they had talked to the teachers-, he grasped her hands. 

 

“Do we have to tell Zelena? She will only make everything worse.”

 

Regina pressed a kiss to his brow. “Your father and I will discuss that. Now get some sleep, honey, it’s been a long day.”

 

“Is Dad okay? It’s not like him to be so late and to not answer when you call.”

 

There was no point lying to him, Regina thought. “I will tell you when I find out. Good night, sweetheart.”

 

“Goodnight Regina.”

 

Robin was waiting for her, sitting at the end of their bed, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands supporting his head.

 

“Are we good parents?” Regina asked as soon as she had closed the door, and that immediately got Robin’s attention. “Our daughter has been bullied for months and we didn’t notice that anything was wrong! Roland had to intervene, physically intervene to help her, it’s crazy! He’s eleven, he shouldn’t have to punch other kids at recess to protect his sister!”

 

She was pacing in front of him, rapidly working herself into a temper, and he had to put an end to it before things started to randomly combust, so he rose up and placed himself in her way, pulling her to him..

 

“Of course we are, Regina! Kids that age can be cruel, they hear things and they repeat it without knowing how much it can hurt, also those ones were exposed to Pan for most of their lives, they don’t know any better, we couldn’t have prevented it. Though, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to let this slide, they need to learn that their actions have consequences.”

 

Regina nodded against his chest. “I hit rock bottom as a mother with Henry, I don’t want that to happen with Robyn as well,” she sighed, her voice muffled.

 

“You did the best you could at the time, and now you know how you would act differently. That’s all we can do, try our best and learn from our mistakes,” the way he said it had her lean back and look up at him. Time to address the elephant in the room.

 

“Robin, where were you really tonight?” She asked, and he sighed.

 

“I didn’t lie, I was in the woods,” he replied, not sure yet how he could explain himself.

 

“Alone, for hours? No one saw you or heard from you since you left the Station. Robin, we can’t keep this up forever, you’ve been distant lately, even Roland saw it! Is there something that’s bothering you? Are you … unhappy with our life?” She asked cautiously and hesitantly, as if she was afraid to scare him, and he would not stand for that.

 

“No, Regina, no, I swear to you that nothing about our life could make me unhappy. You and the kids are the things I cherish most in this world, and it won’t ever change. It’s just that sometimes I feel like I’m about to explode, to snap at the next person who has a stupid complaint. There is this anger inside me that I can’t explain, and the only way for me to calm down is to run.”

 

“How long have you felt like this?” She whispered.

 

He might as well admit everything now. “Ever since you brought me back from the Netherworld.”

 

She gasped. “Robin, it’s been years!”

 

He sat back down on the bed, tugging on her hands for her to join him. “I know, and it’s better than it once was. The nightmares and the flashbacks have stopped, but this sensation stayed with me.”

 

“Why didn’t you talk to me about it? If there is someone who knows about uncontrollable anger, it’s me.”

 

“I thought it would go away like the rest. I know how much it cost you to bring me back, I didn’t want to load this on you after everything you’ve done for me.”

 

“Everything I did for you?! Robin, you died for me, to save me, you sacrificed everything for me, it cost me nothing to bring you back! If anything, it was the most selfish thing I ever did, because I didn’t want to have to live in a world without you in it. We’re married Robin, when we said our vows, we swore to share everything, the good and the bad. You’ve been dealing with this on your own for years and look where that led you! Don’t you trust me to want to help you?”

 

“Of course I do! There is no one I trust more than you, but it’s my mind which is screwed up, you already have enough to deal with…”

 

She cut him off. “There is nothing more important to me than this family, you and the kids are always my first priority, don’t ever doubt that.”

 

He crushed her against him. “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s alright,” she said soothingly. “We will do better.”


End file.
